Naveed Abubacker
Mrs. Tziarri
English II
13 January 2016
Coming of Age on Mango Street
Innocence is the freedom from sin or moral wrong. It’s a trait that all people are born with. As children get older they begin to experience the struggles and realities of adult life. These experiences slowly removes their innocence as they grow into adulthood. This loss of innocence or coming of age is a key theme in Sandra Cisneros's novel The House on Mango Street. Esperanza Cordero begins the novel as a child that has not experienced the horrors of life. As she endures the horrific events of life, she comes of age in a short span. She is young girl growing up in a rundown Latino dominated neighborhood. Esperanza does not want to belong, not to her
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She does not know that there is bad in people, when she was young she believed that everyone had all good in them and no bad but she was wrong. Esperanza describes her mother’s “sweet to put your nose into when she is holding you… is the warm smell of bread before you bake it (Cisneros 6). Esperanza is trying to grow up and she figures out why Sally is so sad which shows she is starting to mature. She starts to come of age and starts to question the bad in the world. Her maturity level is raising from the beginning of the book showing her innocence is rising in a short time. This proves her innocence and love for her mother. Her relationship with her mother is just like her relationship with everyone else because she is innocent and she believes that everyone is a good person. Esperanza is so innocent that when she followed Marin “we ran down the block to where the cop car’s siren spun a dizzy blue” (25). Esperanza is so innocent she does not know what is happening to Louie’s cousin. It is shocking for her to witness someone crashing their car and the cops coming to take them away. She is starting to realize the bad in this world and begins to come of age. She has never seen something this dramatic, when she witnessed the event she did not think anything of it because she did not think it was a bad thing. She did not know why he was getting arrested, she did not realize …show more content…
She wants to achieve her goals, get an education and a house of that she can call her own. When she grows up she does not want to be like Sally which is a great thing. She wants to change and become successful but she does not want to forget about where she came from and she wants to give back to her community. She has completely changed from the beginning of the novel and she has changed for the good of herself. When she gets a house of her own “Passing bums will ask, Can I come in? I’ll offer them the attic, ask them to stay, because I know how it is to be without a house” (86) she does not want to forget where she grew up and understands other people’s situation. Esperanza is becoming more mature and is taking more responsibility and she is trying to help other people. She has changed because the old self would have never done anything like this, but due to the events Esperanza has experienced she is willing to help the good people. She knows not to be taken advantage by men, she has her own goals and is looking to achieve them with all costs. Getting a house of her own is her ultimate goal in her life “Only a house quiet as a snow, a space for myself to go, clean as a paper before the poem” (108). Esperanza wants a house of her own and she wants to be independent. She has matured completely, she never depends on anyone. She understands the horrors and the good in the world and she has chosen the path she wants
Esperanza finally comes to the conclusion that she does not need to fit into the mold of Mango Street. She also realizes that by making her own world, she can do bigger and better things and come back to help others on Mango Street. Not everybody can fit into the same mold and Esperanza made her own. . Esperanza leaving shows that she is a leader and hopefully she will have the others from Mango Street follow in her path. Maybe other people will fit into Esperanza’s mold or they will use her as an example. Esperanza used the other women as an example to make something of herself so all of the negative people she meets and has in her life, they made her the person she wanted to be.
Esperanza is a young girl who struggles with feelings of loneliness and feeling that she doesn’t fit in because she is poor. She always wanted to fit in with the other kids and feel like she was one of them. She loves to write because it helps her feel better about herself writing about her life and her community. Writing helps her with
Esperanza wishes she could change where she lives. Even though Esperanza moved to a nicer house, she still does not like the house on Mango Street. Esperanza’s parents made the house they were moving to seem luxurious. Upon arrival, Esperanza realized “the house of Mango Street is not the way they told it at all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath” (4). Even though the house on Mango Street is an improvement, it is still not good enough for Esperanza. Esperanza says, “I knew I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t. the house on Mango Street isn’t it” (5). She dreams of one day having a bigger and better house. The new and improved house will be a place for others to come and stay, “some days after dinner, guests and I will sit in front of a fire. Floorboards will squeak upstairs. The attic grumble. Rats? They’ll ask. Bums I’ll say, and I’ll be happy” (87). Dreaming of moving to a new house not only gives Esperanza the feeling of control and independence, but makes her
Esperanza dreams of someday having a satisfying life. She doesn't want her path of freedom to be cleared by having a baby or finding a husband. She has no desires to fall into the trap of dependency. As the author writes, "Her power is her own. She will not give it away" (Cisneros 89).
Even early on she is able to see herself through everyday objects and situations. For instance, outside her window are 4 thin trees, which are described,“ Their strength is a secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground,”(74). Even though this vignette is early on, Esperanza at the moment finds reflections of herself , like the trees, which help her understand who she is. In this case she sees herself as a very strong person , however like the trees, not everyone is aware of the strength she holds. This shows that Esperanza has grown up and developed into a strong girl, from living on Mango Street, which carry her through her future, which will be important as she breaks away from Mango Street. Further down the line , as Esperanza concludes her thoughts of her childhood she says,“One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me here forever. One day I will go away,”(110). There she realizes she is capable of taking a hold of her future and not letting her rough past control what is to come. She sees that she can hold onto her past, but her past can't hold onto her. In other words she gets that her past will always be part of her, but she is too strong for it to make her up as a person fully. Breaking free from Mango Street will be the next chapter of Esperanza’s
In The House on Mango Street, Cisneroz agitates the theme of diversity through her use of characters and setting. Cisneroz paints a multitude of events that follow a young girl named Esperanza growing up in the diverse section of Chicago. She is dealing with searching for a release from the low expectations that the Latino communities often put women whether young or old are put against. Cisneroz often draws from her life growing up that she was able to base Esperanza's life experiences on and portray an accurate view on Latino societies today. Cisneroz used the chapter “Boys and Girls” and “Beautiful and cruel” to portray Esperanzas growth from a young curious girl to a wise woman. She came into her own personal awareness and her actions that she has to now be held accountable for.
Identities can be stolen, lost, forgotten, but most importantly, they can be found. In the novella, The House On Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros portrays a girl who does not know her identity. Esperanza is living in a very impovershed part of her city, and this gives her a very negative outlook on her life and her surroundings. This negative outlook causes her to reject her own identity and who she is. Esperanza’s negative view of herself slowly changes, though, as she begins to focus on her larger community and her place within it. Hroug this, Cisneros shows that knowing and accepting where one comes from is an important part of growing up and determining one’s identity.
... They didn’t seem to be my feet anymore. And the garden that had been such a good place to play didn’t seem mine either” (Cisneros 98). The play place that was once so innocent and is now a junkyard that reciprocates Esperanza’s innocence that slowly turns into reality. She is growing up. Additionally, she gains enough confidence and maturity to make her own life decisions. This is shown when she makes the important decision of where she wants her life to take her. “I have decided not to grow up tame like the others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain” (Cisneros 88). This shows Esperanza’s maturity to make her own life choices by herself. She is finally confident and independent enough to know where she wants her life to take her. Esperanza finally completes her evolution from young and immature to adult-like and confident.
At the beginning of the book, Esperanza is shameful of the financial status of her street and house. She showed this when she said “I knew I had to have a house. A
This is one of the most important chapters because this is where Esperanza shows that she is growing up from a girl to a woman. Esperanza says that someday she “wants to be all new and shiny.” She says that she wants to sit out bad and have a boy hanging all over her. I find this interesting because I’m sure that everyone goes through something like this where we want to be rebellious and defy our parents. These are just some of the signs that Esperanza does not want to accept what her parents say is law, and she wants to try out some things of her own. For example, in the beginning of the chapter, Esperanza does not say that Sire is a punk, her father does. With children, this is not a good way to be. This just makes Sire seem exciting and sparks Esperanza’s interest to be around him.
Life as a kid is effortless, where the only motive is to have fun. Some people never want to have responsibility and complexity that comes with being an adult as they realize they must take accountability sometime. Likewise in "The House on Mango Street" by Sandra Cisneros, Esperanza tries her best to avoid is renegade against the normal expectations of women on Mango Street. Esperanza's only way to avoid having to become part of the adult world around her, is by entering The Monkey Garden where she gets to be a kid. Esperanza's depiction of the serene and carefree descriptions of the garden contrast the confused and disturbed attitude Esperanza has towards Sally and the boys' game. As she finally realizes she cannot remain a kid forever, Esperanza feel alienated and alone.
She says, “The water pipes broke and the landlord wouldn’t fix them because the house was to old” (p. 4). But the shame of living in these poor conditions inspires her to dream of, “A real house that would be ours for always so we wouldn’t have to move every year” (P. 4). Esperanza also feels ashamed when the nun is shocked by where she lives asking, “you live there?” (P. 5). Being harshly judged by the nun makes Esperanza plan to have, “A real house, one I could point to” (P. 5). In the chapter “Boys and Girls,” Esperanza is ashamed by Nenny because she’s immature and doesn’t understand anything. The text says, “Nenny is too young to be my friend” (P. 6). Due to the fact that she’s ashamed of Nenny, she turns to her dreams, thinking up, “a best friend all my own” (P. 9). Even Esperanza’s own name makes her feel ashamed. She says, “In English my name means ‘hope.’ In Spanish it means too many letters. It means sadness, it means ‘waiting’.” (P. 10). When she learns it means waiting in Spanish, she decided to grow from it and focuses on the fact that in English it means ‘hope.’
Although Esperanza is constantly reaffirming that she wants to move away from Mango Street, we know by the end novel that she will one day return to help those who will not have the opportunities Esperanza has had in her life. Indeed, in the closing pages Esperanza admits that she cannot escape Mango Street. She can never again call it home, but it has influenced her dreams, formed her personality, and she has learned valuable life lessons from its inhabitants. That is why, explains Esperanza, she tells stories about the house on Mango Street, revealing the beauty amidst dirty streets and unveiling her true inner self, the peace of knowing that her “home is where her heart is.”
Esperanza is a very strong woman in herself. Her goals are not to forget her "reason for being" and "to grow despite the concrete" so as to achieve a freedom that's not separate from togetherness.
In the novel The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, a young girl named Esperanza Cordero, who lives in the poor segregated Latino section of Chicago, struggles to find her sexual identity as she tries to find a means of escape from the poverty-driven neighborhood of Mango Street. Through observing other female role models and through her own experience, Esperanza learns that harnessing her sexuality and relying on others is not nearly enough to allow her to leave Mango Street. Esperanza later finds out that if she plays with her sexuality and waits for her prince charming, the result might not end in such a happily ever after.